240 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



be remembered that in the ranks of the lots offered all 

 through the catalogue were some four or six season 

 hunters, hounds who would probably never have 

 secured a bid had it not been for, say, a couple of 

 youngsters judiciously thrown in. All things con- 

 sidered, therefore, the total amount realised, as men- 

 tioned above, shows that even in cast-offs, and second 

 and third choices, there is a certain amount of business 

 to be done in hounds. 



In 1905 the Dulverton, including twenty-three couples 

 of entered hounds, five couples of unentered hounds, 

 and some odd lots, made 247I gs., the proceeds being 

 divided between the Hunt Servants' Benefit Society 

 and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Society, Lord 

 De Clifford paying 31 gs. for two couples. The Hun- 

 dred of Hoo pack, consisting of nineteen and a half 

 couples, made 58 gs., and in 1906 Lady Craven's 

 hounds realised 1004 gs., the Duke of Beaufort giving 

 70 gs. for a couple of dog hounds. 



In the Field of September i, 1906, the following 

 letter appeared, which brings the story of the hound 

 sales down to that year : — 



In 1901 Mr. Charles McNeill purchased a mixed pack (dogs 

 and bitches) from Captain Stacey, who had been hunting the 

 North Cotswold country up to that period and for five years 

 previously. Mr. C. McNeill sold the dog hounds, about six- 

 teen couples, to Lord Portman, and, on giving up the 

 country in May last, sold his bitches (forty-six couples), prac- 

 tically, therefore, two packs, for ^^3000, to Sir John Hume 

 Campbell, who also bought some fifteen or sixteen couples of 

 unentered hounds. Almost every hound, old and young, were 

 got by Belvoir sires. The price seems high, but on looking 

 into the hound list and noticing that every hound is a bitch, 

 and these of exceptional lineage, besides their being two 

 packs, capable of hunting four days a week, then one realises 



